Services: Custom cycle apps

A customised cycle app for your Local Authority area or company/organisation

A custom cycle app, giving information about cycling and cycle infrastructure in your area, is a great way to promote cycling.

Our mission is to help encourage new people to cycling, by giving them information on where it is convenient and safe to cycle, as well as helping existing cyclists find good routes that improve on their existing journeys or help them through unfamiliar areas.

CycleStreets Ltd is able to create apps for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone, with a wide range of features, each as a different section of the app.

Features that we can include – available on a mix-and-match basis – are:

1. Journey planner

The cornerstone of any cycle app, our leading journey planning system will be available to your citizens/customers at the touch of a button.

Our journey planner aims to emulate the decision-making decisions of real cyclists, giving a choice of routes to suit any ability. A wide variety of on-street factors are taken into account - such as road conditions, cycle infrastructure, partial favouring of Local Authority / Sustrans signed routes, paths and cut-throughs, surface quality, barriers, lighting and much more. Routing takes into account elevation at all times. Even the width of cycle lanes can be taken into account in our determinations of the best routes. All these are taken into account where such data exists in OpenStreetMap.

The journey planner includes a 'follow-me' option, which follows the user's location as they cycle, for those with a handlebar mount.

Routes show the time, distance, calorie usage, CO2 saving, elevation (height) chart, and a street-by-street by listing, in addition to the map view. Routes can be saved, favourited and deleted.

2. Infrastructure photos and videos

So that you can show off the cycle infrastructure in your area, we can include a browseable map that enables people to click on a location and view a photo or video for that location.

We provide a web-based system to enable you add locations, so that they then appear instantly in the app, rather than requiring a new release of the app. Both photos and videos can be included. Videos will play directly within the app.

For instance, you might wish to promote a particular new/existing route, and thereby provide a video of a rider taking that route, to help familiarise users of the app with the route.

3. Infrastructure request tool

Cyclists are often keen to request improvements to cycle infrastructure in their area. By providing a way to do this directly from the app, you can find out directly from local cyclists where there are problems on the cycle network.

For instance, perhaps you have budget to install cycle parking around the area, and would like to know from existing cyclists what the areas of greatest need are. Or perhaps you would like to create some 'quick wins' to enable cyclists to bypass queueing traffic more easily and safely, decreasing journey times. These can easily be collected by users of the app.

To report a location, users just need to take a photo, select the type of problem (e.g. cycle parking), and add a short note. (Users can also submit later, e.g. at home.) The location of the photo is automatically captured.

Your authorised staff have access to a web-based system where each requested location can be scored and prioritised. Locations can be exported to a GIS system or to Excel.

4. Promoted leisure routes

Many Local Authorities have invested in the creation of specific leisure routes, to provide easy and fun places to cycle at the weekend, and in the process help ease people into the idea of regular cycling.

The app can include a section which shows these specially-designed routes.

A user can browse the routes, click one that is of interest, and then view it. They can then follow the route as if it were any normal journey that they have planned in the journey planner section.

Routes naturally can have a specific name, and show the total time, distance and calorie usage, and full stage-by-stage details, like the journey planner.

5. Points of interest browser

Cyclists often have a need to access particular points of interest. The app can include a points of interest browser, so that people can see places nearby that they may wish to access.

For instance, cyclists need to know where cycle parking is available in the area near the end of their journey. The location of a nearby bike shop is another typical requirement. Or perhaps they wish to find a nice café in the area. All these can be shown on the map at the click of a button.

Additionally, perhaps there are particular places you wish to promote - perhaps for an event or tourism purposes. Businesses with multiple sites could also use this to show where their shops or offices are, to help people plan routes there easily.

Each point of interest includes a button to enable a journey to be planned to or from the location.

6. Information pages on cycling in the area

Another feature that can be included in the app is a section giving information on cycling in the area.

This can provide both a static set of key pages about cycling - for instance, particular highlights relating to cycling in the area, tourist locations, and so on, and/or a news feed about new infrastructure, offers, or other regularly-updated information.

We can point the app section to your existing cycling webpages (so these appears within the app directly), or we can provide a content management system so you can update information whenever you wish.

The app will reflect the content on a live basis, so there is no need for users to update the app to get the latest news.

7. Automated circular route planning

We can provide an innovative feature allowing a circular route to be be planned, starting and finishing at the same place.

Routes produced will aim to favour parks, green areas, quieter back streets, Local Authority / Sustrans signed routes, and routes with cycle infrastructure.

For instance, perhaps a family or visitor hiring a bike in the city has two hours spare, and they would like a nice ride that returns them where they started, within that time.

With this almost unique facility, users can specify either the time or the distance they would like to cycle. They can also specify that the route should ideally go via points of interest - e.g. cafés or parks, which can be specified.

As with any route in the app, they can follow it live using the 'follow me' option.

8. GPS tracking facility - see where people are cycling

The app can include a section where cyclists can track their rides, and choose to feed these back to you, so you can build up a 'heatmap' of popular routes.

By building up a heatmap of the most popular routes, Local Authorities and other organisations can identify the areas which would be most beneficial to invest in cycle infrastructure.

For instance, if the heatmap indicates that a particular street is being cycled heavily, this indicates that there is potential in that area for a lot more people to cycle if conditions there were improved further.

This aspect of the app could also be used by local businesses, universities and other organisations, to enable users to claim cycle mileage allowances easily. We are able to provide a monthly report, enabling people to claim back automatially, helping promote cycle. All they need to do is to track their work-related trip, and the app will do the rest for them.

9. Data viewer

There are various data sources such as collision data, traffic data, or pollution data (where available) that we can include as a tab in the app.

This could be useful for people involved in planning of cycle infrastructure, giving information on data points at the click of a button. For instance, it could be useful to see STATS19 collision data during an on-site visit to the location of a proposed infrastructure improvement or planning application.

We can integrate a range of data sources – both freely-available open government data, or specific datasets you may have.

We will help guide you through the process of creating app store accounts in your organisation's name

Turnaround time: 1-3 months

One-off, single payment of £12,000+VAT, per phone platform.

Phone types (mobile platforms) available are:

iPhone

Android

Windows Phone

We recommend that at least both iPhone and Android are commissioned, as that will cover around 90% of phone owners.

Additional options, as listed above (features 4-10)

Options, as listed above, are:

Feature 4: Promoted leisure routes

Feature 5: Points of interest browser

Feature 6: Information pages on cycling in the area

Feature 7: Automated circular route planning

Feature 8: GPS tracking facility

Feature 9: Data viewer

Feature 10: Integration of existing custom map design

£2-5k per option per phone type.

We offer a discount of 20% when two or more options in addition to the base package are ordered.

Exact price for each option depends on your requirements. For instance, the points of interest layer cost would depend on processing of any non-standard POI types you may have. Do contact us for details on any option.

Optional leaflets:

£800 for 20,000 zig-zag fold leaflets, to include design modifications and postage to your offices.

Optional OpenStreetMap training day:

If you wish to get involved in updating the base journey planner data, we can provide training in OpenStreetMap data at your site, with our expert consultants, which we are sure even non-expert staff will enjoy and find accessible. Cost is dependent on our travel costs from Cambridge and London.

Custom development:

Contact us if you have additional features you might like to have included.

These prices are valid until 5th April 2016.

CycleStreets is created by CycleStreets Ltd, a not-for-profit social enterprise based in Cambridge, the UK's 'cycling capital'.

We welcome your feedback, especially to report bugs or give us route feedback.